Hundreds die as Thailand wages drug war

February 25 2003

The Prime Minister's promise to clean up his country's illegal drugs trade has led to a bloodbath, writes Alex Spillius in Arunothai.

A murky sun rose over jagged jungle mountains, heralding undoubtedly the worst day of Si-ying Yoo's life. But, unlike nearly 600 other suspected drug dealers killed during the past three weeks in Thailand, he at least will end it alive.

Cocks crowed by the dozen as a team of eight heavily armed members of the Thai security forces burst into his humble wooden home in Arunothai village, about a kilometre from the Burmese border. With the aid of a sniffer dog they had, within a couple of hours, found 5700 methamphetamine pills, known as yaa baa or crazy medicine, with a street value of $A3 each.

Undercover officers had bought three of the highly addictive pills from him a few days before using notes they had photocopied. Those notes were found at his house. He now faces life imprisonment.

The suspect sat bleary-eyed, stunned and handcuffed as six television crews swarmed around him and the drugs were laid out on a bench. Delighted top police and military brass breezed in for the cameras.

This was the side of a new drugs crackdown that the authorities want the world to see. The other, more violent, side is wrecking Thailand's relatively favourable human rights record and easygoing reputation.");document.write("

advertisement

");
}
}
// -->

In the three weeks since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to stamp out drugs within three months, the killing has turned into a bloodbath with at least 580 alleged drug dealers dead.

Several ministers have all but condoned extra-judicial killing, with Interior Minister Wan Mohammed Noor saying all dealers should be "eliminated". Every day newspapers and TV programs show pictures of supposed dealers lying in pools of blood, all with guns and bags of pills in their hands. Yesterday officials said three policemen who gunned down a nine-year-old boy fleeing a sting operation in Bangkok faced legal action.

Thai and international human rights groups and members of the opposition have accused the Government of instituting a shoot-to-kill policy. But Mr Thaksin says there is nothing to be worried about. "We do follow the law. When we clean up a house, dust billows. Don't panic."

But Thais do worry. An opinion poll showed that while 90 per cent of people backed the crackdown, a startling 70 per cent feared they would be framed or killed by police.

The police claim they have killed only 20 drug dealers in self-defence, and that others died at the hands of fellow gang members nervous about being informed on. The victims have been shot at close range in the head or chest. There have been no witnesses and no investigations. Pathologists say they are not being asked to perform autopsies.

The case of Prachai Wannachairoj is typical. As he sat outside his home in the north-eastern city of Udon Thani, said a neighbour, a pick-up truck pulled up. Two men jumped out of the back and shot him at close range. His wife swears the family has never been involved in drugs. "I am still afraid they are going to come and kill me," she said.

The parents of eight-year-old Jirasak Unthong were killed in front of him as they returned home from a Buddhist temple. His father was shot in the head, his mother in the back.

The national human rights commission has warned of creating a "kingdom of fear" and a culture of police impunity. And yet a poll has found that most people are satisfied with the Government's tough anti-drugs measures.